ARTIST TALK: Valerie Roybal: Bee Dreams

516 ARTS and Exhibit 208 presented an artist talk with Cross Pollination curator Valerie Roybal on her work from the series Bee Dreams, on view at Exhibit 208 (October 7-28). She says, "Bees, existing since the time of the dinosaurs, have developed such a symbolic relationship with flowers that the two have adapted together throughout time. I am interested by the contrast between the seeming stillness of flowers and the energetic engagement of bees in nature... Do bees sleep? And if they do, do they dream? And if they dream, do they dream of flowers? With these questions in mind, I have discovered that bees do indeed sleep after a busy day. I have read that there is what is called 'memory reactivation' during sleep. What does that mean? Is there learning? Recollection? A genetic transference of memory and knowledge? Is there processing, evolution, resolution? With the series Bee Dreams, I have contemplated these ideas and created anthropomorphic imaginings of what may occur during a bees' resting state."

Cross Pollination is an international art exhibition at 516 ARTS, showcasing work at the intersection of art and science that focuses on bees and other pollinators and their role in the world’s food supply. It is curated by Valerie Roybal and is on view through November 11, 2017.

Image: Valerie Roybal, All That Is

516 ARTS is a nonprofit contemporary art museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico